The MTT is an inter club event contested by several local sailing clubs annually; this year it was the turn of Aquarius to host the it on Saturday 12 September

Many thanks to the small gang who worked on the Friday afternoon to get the club in shape. Luckily we got our car park back in its entirety after 18 months of disruption. Only just in time too as Staines SC and Desborough SC started delivering their dinghies by road on that same afternoon. There is now a wide flat area in front of the fence where they could be parked.

On Saturday morning crews started arriving from Staines, Desborough and Hampton Sailing Clubs. Some came by road while some sailed to Aquarius. Littleton SC were not represented this year. The OOD, John Neale, gave the briefing at 11:00am

As I remember the wind that day was rather patchy and variable. SW in the morning and SSW in the afternoon, force 1-2 gusting to force 3. The weather station said it was generally 8 to 13, maximum 18 mph; very different to what it felt like in the boats. The course that John set consisted of an upstream windward mark and downstream leeward mark with an offset dog leg in the middle.

The Aquarius team consisted of four dinghies helmed by Nigel Knowles, Mike Baker, Rodger Wheeler and Richard Cannon with crew Joan Courtney.

There were 16 starters and fortunately we were able to cope with everyone starting at once.

The first of three races got underway at 11:30am. and lasted for over an hour, after which lunch was served; burgers with baked potatoes and salad and a desert to follow.

Races 2 and 3 were back-to-back with just a short loo break between them.

Working out the results for an event like this can take a long time. Liz Archer was a great help while Richard Cannon was racing. She made a photo copy of the race entry sheet so she could enter the names into the computer while the race was running; adding the number of laps and times as the race finishes and evaluating the results is then quick.

Once race three was over Richard and Liz worked hard, tucked away in the peace and quiet of the equipment store, to calculate the results; they are in other orders on the Race Result web page. Meanwhile tea was served accompanied by an amazing array of homemade cakes. Well done the Ladies!

This year Desborough SC won the MTT with Hampton SC 2nd, Staines SC 3rd and Aquarius SC 4th. Next year’s MTT venue has yet to be decided.

Many thanks to John Neale for stepping into the job as OOD at the last minute. To his assistants Colin Lea and John Botterill, Don Barnett in the Patrol Boat and to Liz Archer for handling the results calculations in the ‘back room’. Thanks to Pat Irving, Joan Walkden, Diana Carpenter, Diana Howley and Deborah Lea for handling the catering throughout the day and to Peter Carpenter who did sterling work in the bar.